On 19th May 1536, Queen Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII and mother of Elizabeth I, was executed within the confines of the Tower of London.
According to contemporary sources, Anne was laid to rest in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, one of the chapels royal at the Tower, but legends place her hundreds of miles away, in Norfolk or Suffolk… and some even claim her heart was buried elsewhere.
In my latest video for the Anne Boleyn Files YouTube channel, I explore the evidence and the myths about Anne Boleyn’s resting place.
I explore:
- What eyewitness accounts of 1536 say about her burial
- The Norfolk and Essex legends about her body being moved to churches there
- The tale of heart burial at a Suffolk church
- The 1876 Victorian exhumations of the remains in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula
- Why some historians argue that her memorial tile marks the wrong grave
Is Anne Boleyn truly buried beneath her memorial tile in the Tower of London?
Yes I do believe the bones said to be of Anne Boleyn belong to her, there is more evidence that shows they are, even Norah Lofts wrote that she was found in the spot where it was recorded she kay between two dukes, relating to Weirs theory that the bones could be of Catherine Howard’s, because of her full soft chin depicted in Holbeibs miniature, the provenance of which now is unknown, Catherine was not quite twenty when she died and young bones are more pliable to decay especially in the limestone which was in the earth of the chapel, her theory that Anne lies beneath Lady Rochfords memorial I feel is unfounded, we have to remember that in Victorian times carbon dating of bones was unheard of and therefore the medical analysis of the victims skeletons would not be accurate, however they were a good guess, if we do believe 1500/1 was Anne’s DOB then she would have been about 35/6 when she died, so the dating by Dr Mout of her remains as aged between 25/30 was quite close, now Lady Rochford was younger than her sister in law by about 11/12 years, and so her skeleton would thus by aged 30 years when she died, now the analysis of her bones too was quite near, so I do believe both Anne and Jane lie under their correct memorials and there was of course Lady Salisbury who was about 70 when she was executed, very unjustly I might add, now the bones of a female of advanced years was recorded in the findings so there was no confusion with her identity, as for Catherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey neither of their remains were found, the former I mentioned previously, Lady Jane was a bit younger than Catherine when she died, therefore her bones must be long gone like Catherine’s, sad that these two high born ladies and both queens to have been lost in the ancient earth, as for Lofts tale on Anne’s last journey to Norfolk, as Weir explains Miss Lofts did have a lovely imagination, firstly I cannot see any body be smuggled out of the Tower to be whisked away at dead of night for burial, how far could they go the Tower was closely guarded, complete tosh like her heart is said to lie somewhere else, Anne was lain to rest heart intact in the grounds of St Peter Ad Vincula and she probably was buried in an old elm chest, but we know she must have had the last rites and prayers would have been said, her ladies would have made sure of that.